Software developers can create software applications using one or more programming languages, such as JavaScript®, C++, Java®, Python®, Perl®, or PHP®. A software developer can write a set of instructions in a programming language that causes a software application to behave in a particular manner. The instructions can be source code. In some instances, the source code can include a reference to a segment of program code, which can be separate from the source code and otherwise independent of the source code, for adding particular features to the software application. For example, the segment of program code can be stored separately from, such as a in a separate file from, the source code. The segment of program code can be a dependency, because the source code may be dependent on the segment of program code to implement the particular features.
As a particular example, source code for a website can include a reference to a JavaScript file to incorporate certain features, such as graphs or charts, into the website. The JavaScript file can be a dependency on which the website relies to implement the graphs or charts.
Developers can use dependencies for various reasons, such as to make updating a feature across multiple software applications faster and easier. For example, multiple different websites may include references to the above-mentioned JavaScript file to implement graphs. To update a feature of the graphs (e.g., a style or color-coding for the graphs) across all of the websites, a developer can simply update the single JavaScript file. This can be faster, cheaper, and easier than if the source code for each separate website had its own program code for implementing graphs that had to be individually updated.